OK so there's no shortage of Mayfield CD's on the market I hear you say. That may well be right but this is the first ever definitive anthology of all his singles on one wonderful double CD courtesy of Sequel. I suspect this set is aimed commercially at those fans who are discovering his work for the first time as opposed to those die hard fans who will have all these titles on other CD's and vinyl albums. Nevertheless it is a set full of Mayfields best solo work for his own Curtom label in the seventies and eighties, and opens with the all time classic 'Move On Up' which has to be one of best soul songs of the century and understandably, still gets plenty of radio and club plays to this day.
You'll also find his best blaxploitation work included to with the wonderful 'Back To The World' and 'Superfly' and not forgetting 'Sweet Exorcist' and 'Freddies Dead', all edited down from the original LP's to respectable single edits. Whilst Mayfield could never have been tagged as a disco artist there was points in his career where he did come up with commendable dance tracks such as 'Beautiful Brother Of Mine' and 'Get Down' and 'Party Night' which on reflection matched many of the specialised uptempo tunes of that period. For a real treat check out two late night soul tracks on side one namely 'Show Me Love' and 'Only You Babe' reflecting Curtis' vocal dexterity in delivering some simple uncomplicated soul.
Side two has the disco dancer 'You Are, You Are' a track covered at some point by fellow Curtom artiste Linda Clifford and it sounds as good in 1999 as it did back then. From his CD of the same name we find him in dancefloor mood with 'Do It All Night' but if your looking for a major new dance track for your collections you'll not go far wrong with the superbly arranged hi-energy galloper 'No Goodbyes which is one of my favourite Mayfield Solo tunes of the seventies. Curtis had a couple of duets released as singles with Linda Clifford and both are included here namely 'Between You Baby And Me' and 'Love's Sweet Sensation' the latter being the strongest track of the two.
Other strong cuts include the superb mid tempo guitar riff led 'Trippin Out' and the revamp of his old Impressions song from 1964 'It's Alright' a gentle swayer not too far removed from the original on what sounds like a group of teenage backing singers, all to good effect I may add. This double CD is a definitive collection of Mayfields solo work, and really does expose this great man for what he really is - a master at work.
Other Curtis Mayfield re-issues available from Sequel Records:
All the above titles are double CD's available fromSanctuary Records